Introduction
Blundel and Ippolito (2008) provide that the communication effectiveness of an organization or working groups is a “primary element determining success or failure of any organization” (p. 28). Effective communication provides a framework stating their various departmental functionalities and relationships between various working groups. It also ensures that organizations achieve positive results whereas poor communication may result into organization failure (Blundel & Ippolito, 2008).
Barriers to effective communication in organizations
Emotional barriers
Negative emotional behaviors among individuals in a working group result into poor communication. Negative emotional behavior hinders effective communication creating confusion and misunderstanding among the co-workers in working groups. Emotional barriers may arise from personal issues, low self-esteem or stress hindering effective reception and dissemination of information (Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan, 2009).
Language barriers
The languages used to communicate within an organization or working groups affect the overall communication effectiveness. In the corporate world, different working groups use different specific languages thus the use of unfamiliar languages and terminologies reduce effective communication (Miller, 2014).
Physical barriers
The geographical distance between the sender and the receiver affect effective communication. Communication across longer geographical distances needs specific communication media channels and more technologically advanced mediums. Organizations with inadequate communication media channels and advanced technologies are susceptible to poor effective communication when communicating across longer and far geographical locations (Gilley et al., 2009). Organizations with physical barriers between working groups and supervisors have reduced communication effectiveness due to reduced interactions.
Cultural barriers
Cultural barriers reducing communication effectiveness arises from different cultures, religion, countries or states origin among individuals in working groups. Cultures influence working groups believes and interpretations of information thus reducing communication effectiveness.
Importance of persuasive communication
Persuasive communication involves convincing an audience to agree or believe in something. Persuasive communication is achieved through effective explanations and showing concern using relevant information (Blundel & Ippolito, 2008). The importance entails:-
Convince management
Convince management through persuasive communication enables employees to convince organization leaders to make organization changes. Employees convince them to address issues affecting them (Sparks, Perkins, & Buckley, 2013). This involves provision of clear analysis of the issues and appropriate utilization of emotional appeal.
Training seminars
Persuasive communication is important when conducting training seminars. In cases where employees are not motivated to attend training seminars it is used to convince them understand the need to attend. Persuasion in training seminars facilitates discussions and winning attention with the use of valuable and relevant information thus promotes effective conveyance of information and messages (Gilley et al., 2009).
Increasing sales
Persuasive communication facilitates marketing of the organizational products and services. Sales managers utilize persuasive communication to convince and influence consumer behaviors through recognition of customer needs and providing information how organization meets these needs (Sparks et al., 2013).
How to create persuasive message
Creating persuasive message involve determination of the audience needs, attracting their attention that gives them a reason to listen and develop interest on the messages conveyed (Miller, 2014). An effective persuasive message should be credible and have a certain level of authority. This implies that the message needs to have some proof regarding the message conveyed. It includes past successful experiences, statistics and written documentation for audience reference. Face-to-face interaction is suitable for effective conveyance of the persuasive message because speakers can maintain an eye contact with their audience. This enhances use of gestures, adjusting the tone and utilizing emotional appeals (Sparks et al., 2013).
Types of communication media
This comprises of physical and mechanical communication media. Physical communication media provides a one-way means of communication and information reaches the audience directly from the person conveying (Otondo, Van Scotter, Allen, & Palvia, 2008). Physical communication media is used to address employees regarding organization change and it is reliable because employees prefer communicating with their leaders in person. Mechanical communication media utilize written and electronic media to convey information and it includes email, weekly letters, employee magazine, intranet and social media (Otondo et al., 2008). Email is used to disseminate information to a large number of individuals in organization at once. Information conveyed through email is short or long descriptions that are easily understood by the receivers. Weekly letters are effective for supervising managers having difficulties in meeting large number of employees. Organizational managers can publish the weekly letters hence passing information and their personal reflections.
Employee magazine as a media is used when targeting specific working groups conveying key important strategic information and messages (Otondo et al., 2008). Intranet is used to disseminate information within an organization and working groups are encouraged to use intranet. Organizations disseminate and convey relevant information through social media by means of social interaction attributed to web-based technologies and the internet. Organizations can easily make information available to working groups and consumers through social media (Otondo et al., 2008). The information richness of above types of communication media depends on the organization’s target audience (Miller, 2014). Therefore, organizations should identify and assess the audience’s communication needs when choosing a communication media to disseminate information.
References
Blundel, R., & Ippolito, K. (2008). Effective organisational communication: perspectives, principles and practices. New Jersey, United States: Pearson Education.
Gilley, A., Gilley, J. W., & McMillan, H. S. (2009). Organizational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 21(4), 75-94.
Miller, K. (2014). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.
Otondo, R. F., Van Scotter, J. R., Allen, D. G., & Palvia, P. (2008). The complexity of richness: Media, message, and communication outcomes. Information & Management, 45(1), 21-30.
Sparks, B. A., Perkins, H. E., & Buckley, R. (2013). Online travel reviews as persuasive communication: The effects of content type, source, and certification logos on consumer behavior. Tourism Management, 39, 1-9.